Patricia Crowley, a Golden Globe-winning actress whose television and film career spanned about 60 years and included starring roles on the 1960s sitcom Please Don’t Eat the Daisies and a recurring turn on Dynasty, died Sunday in Los Angeles. She was 91, two days shy of her 92nd birthday, and died of natural causes, her son Jon Hookstratten said.
Crowley was best known to television audiences as Joan Nash, the mother in the family sitcom Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, which aired from 1965 to 1967. She also appeared in guest roles on series such as Hawaii Five-O and Columbo and played Emily Fallmont in 10 episodes of Dynasty in 1986. Her screen work extended into daytime television, including long-running roles on Generations and Port Charles.
Crowley appeared in 65 episodes of Generations as Rebecca Whitmore from 1989 to 1990 and portrayed Mary Scanlon in 251 episodes of Port Charles from 1997 to 2003. She later returned to daytime television with a role as Natalie DeWitt on The Bold and the Beautiful in 2005. Her final onscreen credit was the 2012 film Mont Rêve.
Born Sept. 17, 1933, in Olyphant, Pennsylvania, Crowley moved to New York City where she studied at the High School of Performing Arts. She began her career on Broadway in the chorus of Oklahoma! and later led the show Southern Exposure. Early television work included a live episode of CBS’ The Ford Theatre Hour, opposite Jack Lemmon and Jack Albertson.
Crowley won the Golden Globe for New Star of the Year in 1954, following performances in the films Forever Female and Money From Home. The award was an early acknowledgement of a career that bridged film, prime-time television and daytime serials.
Her personal life included two marriages. She wed television producer and executive Andy Friendly in 1986 and previously had been married to sports and entertainment attorney Ed Hookstratten, with whom she had two children, Jon and Ann Hookstratten Osher. Her son Jon Hookstratten, who announced her death, is the executive vice president of administration and operations for Sony Pictures Entertainment. Crowley is survived by her husband, her two children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Her sister was singer Ann Crowley.
Crowley’s credits across film, television and stage reflected changing entertainment landscapes from live television and studio-era features to serialized daytime drama. Reported roles, awards and long runs on soap operas and series underscore a career that maintained steady work for more than half a century.
Her death was announced by her son; no further details beyond the cause of natural causes were released. Crowley’s work continues to be available in syndication and archives that document mid-20th-century American television and film.